Sectional tray



' y 968 1.. J. BUFFINGTON 3,384,250

SECTIONAL TRAY Original Filed Sept. 27 1963 Fig.5

I) III INVENTOR.

Larry J. Buff/hymn United States Patent O 3,384,260 SECTIONAL TRAY LarryJ. Bufiington, Rte. 1, Box 338, Bauxite, Ark. 72011 Continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 312,030, Sept. 27, 1963. This application Apr. 6,1966, Ser. No. 540,535 3 Claims. (Cl. 220-17) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA multi-cornpartment food serving tray with an outer circular maincontainer or tray base, which is upwardly open and forms a chamber forthe reception of a number of sector shaped bowls which are removablypositioned within the main container or tray. Each sector shaped bowlhas an outwardly extending lifting lip on its outer end, and the innerends of all bowls converge to terminate at their arcuate shaped innerends so that a space is formed between all bowl inner ends, and they allhave a recess at their inner ends to allow insertion of a finger to liftthem individually with the aid of the lifting lip at their outer ends.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 312,030,filed Sept. 27, 1963, now abandoned.

This invention relates to kitchen trays, and more particularly to thetray including a plurality of bowls for serving different kinds of foodsin one tray.

It is therefore the main purpose of this invention to provide asectional tray adapted to serve food of different kinds from separatebowls which are removably positioned within a tray.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sectional tray which isof compact construction and is designed to save space on the cabinetshelves, in the refrigerator, or on the table.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sectional tray whichmay be used during picnicking, camping and other outdoor activities.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a sectional traywhich, after removal of the bowls, may be used as a serving plate,frying pan, food container, etc.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a sectional traywhich is inexpensive to manufacture, of rigid construction, easilywashable, and provides maximum utility to its user.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent froma consideration of the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, wherein a satisfactoryembodiment of the invention is shown. However, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited to the details disclosed but includesall such variations and modifications as fall within the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 shows the top plan view of this invention.

FIGURE 2 relates to a bowl removed from the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional side view taken along the lines 33 of FIGURE 1.

According to this invention, a sectional tray 10 is of a substantiallycircular configuration and is provided with a circular container 11preferably made of lightweight plastic or metallic material. A pluralityof sector shaped bowls are removably positioned on said circularcontainer.

"ice

Each bowl 12 is provided with an outwardly extending handle 13 which isintegrally secured to the top portion of a convex, arcuate end portion15. A pair of straight edge side walls 16' converge from the endportions of said arcuate member 15 and terminate at a concavely arcuateinner end 16. The bottom portion 17 of said bowl 12 is adapted to snuglyabut the inner bottom portion 18 of the container 11. Like the circularcontainer 11, each of bowls 12 are made of washable plastic or metallicmaterial and are conveniently received within the container 11 orremoved therefrom.

Looking now at the drawing, one will see that, in operation, each sectorshaped bowl is adapted to hold a variety of foods in their heated orcold condition. When it is desired to remove a bowl from the container11 a finger or an implement, such as, fork is inserted into the recess14 of the concavely arcuate inner end 16 and the handle 13 extendingfrom the end portion 15- is also grasped thereby allowing bowl 12 to beraised from the container 11.

It will also be noted that the above explanation shows the preferredembodiment of this invention, as it will be obvious to those skilled inthe art that modifications may be made without departing from the spiritand scope of this invention.

What I now claim is:

1. A sectional tray comprising, in combination, a circular, open endedcontainer, said container having a bottom and an upstandingcircumferential wall, a plurality of sector shaped bowls removablypositioned within said container, said each bowl being provided with aconvex, arcuate outer end portion adapted to abut the circumferentialwall of said container, a pair of straight edge, side walls convergingfrom said end portion, a concavely arcuate inner end supported by theend portions of said converging side walls, whereby said concavelyarcuate inner ends form a central opening of circular configuration, abottom portion supporting said end portion, said converging side wallsand said concavely arcuate inner end, said concavely arcuate inner endbeing provided with a recess adjacent the upper edge and a handle memberextending outwardly from said outer end portion thereby, in conjunctionwith said recess of said inner end, being adapted to provide graspingmeans for removal of said bowl from said container.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said handle member ofsaid each bowl being designed to extend outwardly from the wall portionsof said container when said bowl being positioned therein.

3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said container and saideach bowl are made of lightweight, heat absorbing material for sake ofimproving the safety factor of said sectional tray.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,445 6/1909 Rose 220-2141,470,199 10/1923 Small 220-16 XR 1,768,976 7/1930 Cuthbertson 220-172,571,111 10/1951 Clark 220-17 XR 2,974,821 3/1961 Lamont 220-23.4

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

DONALD F. NORTON, Examiner.

G. E. LOWRANCE, Assistant Examiner.

